content writing

April 20, 2012

Writing good advertising emails is not necessarily common knowledge. It is for this reason that a lot of mail is now considered spam as it does not interest the reader in way whatsoever. So, according to experts, successful email advertising means writing the best copy possible.

So, here are 3 tips that you can pick up that can help you creating good advertising emails:

#1: The Subject Line matters

The first that any recipient will read is the subject line, and depending on which, they’ll either open it and read or just send it to trash. One of the biggest mistakes in email advertising is not to include a subject line. More so, make the subject line interesting enough for the recipient to want to read.

#2: Address each recipient individually

If you refer the recipient by his name, the email he or she receives won’t feel like spam. On the other hand, a generic greeting common to all recipients won’t impress, and will more likely than not, end up being trashed as well.

#3: Convey your message clearly and by using as less jargon as possible

Jargon is probably one of the biggest put-offs and especially shouldn’t find a place in email advertising at all. However, if you do need to use jargon then it will be advisable to minimize it as much as possible. Also, ensure that you stay on point if you want to convey a message to each of your customers. Rambling on and on will cause them to close the email before reading it completely.

April 12, 2012

If you think content writing is more or less a stream-of-consciousness rant, then think again. In fact, it’s just the opposite – no matter whatever type of writing you produce, there has always been a process that professional writers tend to use.

So, here are 5 steps of the Writing Process that you can use:

#1: Prewriting

While some writers are caught staring blankly at their computer screen, others begin to work on building the story idea such as what angle they could take or even the sub-topics they could include in the article before writing the article itself.

#2: Writing

With the structure and direction of the writing planned in the previous stage, this one includes writing (or fleshing) it out. It is advisable that the matters like word count, spelling, grammar and punctuation should not be worried about in this stage.

#3: Revising

This part is about making changes to the writing by removing, adding, replacing or rearranging information that might make a difference to the writing itself, and how it is perceived by the readers themselves. Every writer MUST work on this step, no matter how talented they are.

#4: Editing

This step involves checking the sentences you’ve constructed or the words that have been used in the writing, and whether or not, it contributes to the piece or takes the attention away from it. Clarity of thought, flawless spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as the lack of repetition of words are some ways by which you can edit your writing work for better understand overall.

#5: Publishing

This could mean different things to different people. While bloggers need to add a post, students need to produce a final copy of that essay on paper to their teachers. Journalists have to submit their finished piece to editors.

March 29, 2012

Improving your search engine ranking is probably a common objective for anyone who publishes content over the web. So, in order to do this, you will have to understand and apply the elements of SEO that go into your content reaching a wide audience.

While SEO is indeed important what you must focus on when it comes to preparing content is that it should relevant, interesting and should be free of plagiarism. Only if your content can meet these standards will you be able to use the full potential of the internet, and reach a wide base of customers. As always, cop-and-paste work is almost surely damaging to your search engine ranking – so avoid it like the plague!

#2: Article Length & Keyword Density

Web copy and directory submissions allow articles to be anywhere from 300 to 1000 words in length. Blogs and social media posts can be shorter. As for the keyword length, it’s a good idea not to cram keywords into a post but to keep it to one keyword per 50 to 100 words. For this, the best thing to remember is that you should spread your keywords evenly throughout the post.

#3: Add Meta-descriptions

Meta-descriptions are a 150-word description that introduces your article in the search engine rankings, and is another way by which you can optimize your article or post. Remember to add your keywords into the meta description but also avoid keyword stuffing here as well.

March 18, 2012

Almost everyone who engages in email advertising in the form of a regular B2B newsletter knows that it is difficult to maintain a steady flow of interesting content to keep your readers interested. It goes without saying that this factor alone will also increase the number of subscriptions amongst a whole lot of benefits that will work to your favor.

So, here are 3 tips that will help keep the content flowing for your email newsletter:

#1: Analyze your stats carefully

As soon as you send out a newsletter, you can obtain software that will tell you how many people opened the email or clicked on a link. By this you will know what kind of topics interest your readers and what don’t.

Another way to find out what content your readers like is to check website stats. The more popular some of your website is in terms of readership, the better you understand as to what kind of content that your readers like.

#2: Reduce Length & Frequency, if necessary

Publishing for the sake of it is probably the worst approach to take when you have your own newsletter. If you are struggling with creating engaging content, then it is time for you to consider the reduction of length and frequency of your newsletter that will give enough time to do so.

#3: Stay in touch with sales reps and customer service agents

Both sales reps and customer service agents are constantly in touch with customers, and usually are aware of what they are in interested in or need. Talking to them will give you a good idea as to what content will be popular amongst your customers.

February 21, 2012

Creative content writing is easiest especially when the topics in question are about sports, entertainment, technology or even fashion. How about toilet seats? Garbage cans?

Yes, writing (and selling) these topics can seem extremely difficult and really boring. More often than not, it’s downright boring but the truth is that you can turn things around by changing your approach a bit.

Here are three tips by which you can still continue to write creatively especially when you have boring B2B topics:

#1: Problem-Solving approach

Almost every product or service fills a need or solves a problem. One of best ways by which you can stay relevant and create interesting content is focus on the problems and solutions that your potential customers might need.

Writing about your product all the time will skew your views on what is important and what isn’t. What this approach will do is make you a resource that customers will come to – paving the way for more business.

#2: Stay Relevant

Again, staying focused on your product or service results in not remaining relevant to the changing times. You have to know how to connect what your business offers to what the world cares about at the moment. This will take some creativity to make these connections.

#3: Develop content as media would

One interesting way by which you can create content is by taking a media-like approach. Conducting interviews with government authorities, respected experts and even CEOs will interest potential customers, no matter how boring the business is. Not only will you have interested customers but you can pitch your business to the company itself indirectly with a thank you note.

January 29, 2012

Error-free content writing should be the aim of any good writer. Why is this so? Making even the simplest of errors can cause you to look dumb. Do you think people would like to read what you’ve written if you make irritating errors that can get on people’s nerves.

It doesn’t sound like fun but check your copy for errors is absolutely vital, and so here are 3 common mistakes that you should avoid:

#1: Apostrophe Usage

There are two instances when you use the apostrophe and that is in the case of contractions (don’t, can’t) as well as to indicate possession (Danny’s car). It is better to leave the apostrophe out especially when you’re in doubt instead of adding one where it doesn’t belong. That way you can always get away with a ‘typo’ instead of looking like you don’t know what you are doing.

#2: Parallelism

This concept comes into play when you are making a list. So the rule is to start each action item under every bullet point with the same part of speech. For example, if the part of speech that you’ve started the first bullet point is a verb such as ‘deliver’, ensure that every other bullet point starts with a verb as well.

#3: Me and I Usage

People often are confused between the usage of ‘Me’ and ‘I’ and this will result in using ‘I’ instead of ‘Me’ and vice-versa. How you can determine which of these two should be used is to remove the other ‘person’ from the sentence, and you’ll know which one you should use.

August 19, 2011

One of the most common issues that content writing poses is that of writer’s block. Yes, these are days when you just cannot write. Your thoughts don’t come together, and often causes writers stress. They also result in missed deadlines and angry clients.

Is it possible to overcome writer’s block?

The truth is that no matter how difficult it seems, there are steps that you can take in dealing with writer’s block. Here they are:

#1: Writing Schedule

Find your sweet spot when it comes to writing.. When you do find this spot, ensure that you spend this time working on your projects. You will find that you will be able to finish most of your work in a few hours.

#2: Take Time Off

Sometimes when you haven’t taken time off, you experience writer’s block and this is a sign that your ideas need some time away. It’s not a bad sign actually as this process often is fruitful, and you’ll be ready to get back to work soon enough.

#3: Work on more than one project at a time

Variety is the spice of life, and sometimes it gets boring working on only one project. It is advisable to multi-task on several projects at a time to ensure that this does not happen.

#4: Find your own writing space

In one sense, it is a good idea to find your own writing space because this will ensure that you are able to concentrate fully and write well, thanks to the environment that allows you to think cohesively. This is a factor that you just cannot ignore!